Juventus: Temporary return of 15 points, reopening of proceedings

Italy’s Olympic Committee provisionally returned the 15 points deducted from Juventus after hearing the Bianconeri’s appeal on Wednesday.

According to the reasoning, there had been a first-degree miscarriage of justice and the Italian club had therefore been partially rehabilitated, but the case would be taken to a third trial, where Juventus’ new sentence would be decided.

At the factor level, the appeals were from Fabio Paratici (he was banned for 2.5 years and is now Juventus sporting director), Andrea Agnelli (he was banned for two years and then became team boss) and Federico Cherubini (Paratitsi’s successor , had been sentenced to one year and four months). On the contrary, the appointments of the then Vice-President Pavel Nedved (eight months), Paolo Gariberti and Enrico Velano were accepted.

A retrial against Juventus by the relevant FIGC department is expected in late May or early June, but for the factors the final verdicts are expected earlier. The rationale for CONI’s decision is expected to be published within 15 days.

hearing on Wednesday

Juve’s 15-year appeal to the responsible CONI committee took two hours and 45 minutes.

Juventus sought to have the sentence overturned due to a miscarriage of justice and had an ally… the prosecutor, who admitted the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) judiciary had no basis to deduct so many points for the offense sent the team to the dock.

Juventus and its agents are accused of artificially inflating transfer earnings, which led to capital gains, but the defense argued that this amounted to €60,000,000 over three years, just 3.6% of their earnings.

Also, ten other clubs (Napoli, Sampdoria, Genoa, Empoli, Parma, Pisa, Pescara, Novara, Chievo and Pro Vercelli) along with 59 people were initially accused of the same practice, but they were all acquitted on April 15 because The court decided that it is impossible to independently determine the value of a football player.

Juventus were the only team not to be acquitted when new evidence implicating them in the case emerged in January.

FIGC prosecutor Giuseppe Chinet did not attend the hearing and was replaced by CONI’s sports prosecutor general Hugo Taucher, who broadly supported Juventus’ position on misconduct. Taucher claimed that was the case “Uncertainty about the reason for the penalty of 15 points, which has to be evaluated and taken into account in a new procedure”.

Juventus’ legal team argued in a 99-page, nine-count appeal that the new evidence, which suddenly surfaced before the first trial and led to new charges, gave the club no right of defence.

He also argued that the allegations against the club should at most be punished with a fine and not with a point deduction.